Software applications provide a tremendous benefit in today's society. Software applications enable, to name a few, word processing, online shopping, cloud storage, contact management, bookkeeping, and databases. Software applications are widely available and can be used in conjunction with different types of devices such as computers, tablets, and smart phones.
One key aspect of many software applications is the user interface. Most, if not all users, interact with software applications through a user interface that is visually rendered on a display. Users are able to input data, perform searches, make purchases, etc., through the user interface.
Although a user interface may seem simplistic to an end-user, it is often the result of significant work and can be very complicated. For many software applications, many different development teams may contribute to the same user interface. Because work is being done by multiple development teams, there is a need to coordinate and approve changes made to software application. Conventionally, this can be a lengthy process. In fact, this is one of the reasons that conventional updates occur infrequently. The need to ensure that all of the components and modules of software application work together properly takes time.
For example, before a component developed by one of the development teams goes live, it must typically be approved and tested. If only one development team was submitting a change, this could be a simple process. The process becomes more complicated when there are changes or updates submitted by multiple teams. Even when a single person is responsible for approving all changes to the user interface, the approval process can become a bottleneck to software development. Systems and methods are needed to facilitate the development of software applications including the user interface and to simplify the approval process.